New HBO Wrestling Series Ushers in New Era in Wrestling

For the last couple months now, B/R has been yelling for both the WWE and TNA to step their games up. And over the last couple weeks, it looks like they have.

Raw is scoring big with their Legend Killer gone wild. While TNA, just last week, had their highest rating yet even though many still disagree with their direction.

But great storylines are only good enough to appease the current fans. Wrestling needs mainstream attention if it wants to start generating new fans.

And like the Attiude era we all love, where we were seeing Mike Tyson in the ring and celebrities in the crowd, wrestling is starting to get the mainstream attention it deserves.

The wave of promotions started with the critically acclaimed movie The Wrestler. The WWE was able to ride it's success by challenging its star Mickey Rourke, who is still rumored to appear at Wrestlemania.

But now theirs a new success story to help bail out the wrestling economy and it's led by a former WCW employee, and this time his name doesn't rhyme with risch-off.

Norman Lear, creater of The Jeffersons and All in the Family, is currently scheduled to launch a new wrestling drama on HBO called Everybody Hurts.

The weekly drama will follow a New York based wrestling promoter and his family. The series takes place in the 1970s and will probably center around the rise and fall of the territory days.

And although the WWE is based out of Connecticut, it is mostly referred to as the New York company due to it's ties to New York's Madison Square Garden, I wouldn't be surprised if the show was loosely based on the McMahons.

The series will not be done completely by wrestling outsiders as one of the main writers is former WCW employee Aaron Blitzstein.

Although Blitzstein was in charge of marketing for the now defunct company, that's probabaly a good thing for both the viewers and the show. At least he wasn't a writer on the creative team.

With a huge movie, a new TV series and numerous outlets plugging the upcoming Wrestlemania 25 we are currently witnessing the rebound of wrestling.

The days of the Attitude Era maybe far behind us, but we are well on our way to a brand new day in wrestling.

What do ya'll think? Same-old-same or brand new day?

To find out more, listen in to Hit the Ropes Radio. This week's special guests: WWE Harley Race, ROH's Brent Albright, and Booker T's PWA.